Berry College Eagles again raising 2 chicks for 2017 season

Yes it's true... the adult bald eagles at Berry College seem to be continuing their excellent parenting streak, now having hatched a pair of chicks each season since 2014 when only one eaglet hatched. Anyway newbies B8 and B9 hatched out February 11th and 13th. They are doing great and are now on the verge of losing their fluffball status, enroute to being gangly nest explorers for the next couple months.

I wish them well. Would that the Golden Eagle reintroduction project, back home in my native Donegal, Ireland, was as successful.

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The pair at Berry College has certainly done well towards maintenance of the species. This year's offspring are on the verge of fledging out, probably this week...

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Update: B9 fledged out Friday evening, May 5, 2017, spent some time away from the nest, returned to get some food. One first flight in the history books, one to go! There are various videos of the fledge on You Tube and one on the facebook page. Here's one, with the fledge about 1:25 into it:

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Below is a cool video of the last full family gathering on Friday, where the papa eagle brings home a big fish (and then is promptly invited to leave by Mama and the big, big babies who barely all fit in the nest now). Amazing how the parent eagles care for the nestlings for so long compared to the short care period of little songbirds. In this video, you can see the mama still feeding bits of that fish to B8 and B9. Even after the eaglets fledge, the parents will be feeding them and teaching them how to fish and hunt for the rest of the summer.

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Update - B8 fledged out on Wednesday morning, May 10, 2017.. a few days older than its sibling but a few days slower on the nest departure... all's well that ends well and it's great both eaglets survived that first flight: the failure rate is about 40% but the Berry hatchlings have all made it. Below is a video of B8's flight this morning, from the branch left of the nest where both eaglets had been hanging out exercising their wings for weeks. Fledge occurs at about 49 seconds into the video.

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